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Jeff Gordon faces an uphill battle if he is to win Sunday's Nextel Cup race at Infineon (Calif.) Raceway, writes Johnny Benson of MSNBC.com.

Other "roadies" looking to score solid finishes will include P.J. Jones, who will step into David Reutimann's ride, Terry Labonte, who will take Michael Waltrip's seat in the No. 55 Toyota, (both Jones and Labonte need to qualify), and Ron Fellows, who will be in place of Tony Raines in the No. 96 Chevrolet.

My darkhorse is first-year Cup driver Juan Pablo Montoya, who is coming off his worst result of the season -- finishing last at Michigan. The former Formula One star has a vast amount of road-course experience and is considered one of the best road-course racers in the world. But he has never run Infineon and he came away disappointed with his Chip Ganassi Racing car after a recent road-course test at Virginia International Raceway.

Keys to success at Infineon
To run fast at Infineon a driver must attack the track. Given that, it helps that teams have become smarter about their braking packages, transmissions, and setups for this road course. A car must be fast for long stretches, but in the process the driver must be sure to take care of his car since road racing is a real mechanical exercise. The challenge is for the driver to push his car -- but not beyond its limits. Being smooth and cautious in certain areas of the track and aggressive in other areas is crucial.

Drivers must especially take care of the transmission, and the rear-end gear, and be sure not to tear up the car. Accomplishing this at Infineon is tough since the track is hilly, and has 10 turns. It's hard to pass, and there is only one good passing spot -- at the lower end of the track in the last corner.

On this road course a driver has to have balance on his brakes so that he is able to use some rear brakes as well as front brakes. Besides being able to take advantage of the prime passing position and using the brakes wisely, another important element is shifting the gears. Stock car racers are not accustomed to the amount of shifting that is required at road courses. Some laps will find the drivers shifting a dozen times -- so that's a dozen times the driver has a chance at making a mistake. Downshifting into the corners -- such as in Turn 11 -- is a key as the engine needs to help the car slow down.

With the COT all eyes will be on the front splitter and whether it will prove fragile on the aggressive curves of this road course. Fragility in the front splitter could cause problems for drivers since if these splitters give way they could cut tires on other cars in the race.

This road course presents the drivers with a complex test of racing. If a car is running well, this is a race where a driver's talents can really make a difference. And history shows that a good starting position can prove invaluable when it comes to boosting a driver's shot at winning the race. All 18 races at Infineon have been won from a top-15 starting position. And seven of the races have been won from a front-row spot, five from the pole.